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It’s shaping up to be another underwhelming year for LSU.
The 2019 team that blazed through an undefeated season en route to a national championship and a Heisman Trophy for Joe Burrow seems to be a distant memory right now. Ed Orgeron’s Tigers are 3-2 following a loss to Auburn their last time out and now turn their attention to a red-hot Kentucky team that just upset Florida and is now 5-0.
On Wednesday, Clay Travis analogized Orgeron’s struggles outside of the brief Burrow era to that of Gene Chizik at Auburn. Auburn, of course, played to a 14-0 record and a championship in 2010 with Cam Newton as their quarterback after going 8-5 the year prior. Chizik would go 11-14 in his final 2 seasons — including an 0-9 SEC mark in 2012 — before being fired.
And Travis believes that Orgeron’s time may be wearing short in Baton Rogue if LSU loses to the Wildcats, referring to the Yahoo Sports report that Lane Kiffin, James Franklin, and even Jimbo Fisher could be on the Tigers’ list to replace him.
“It sounds like, essentially, LSU is ready to move from Coach O, and the Gene Chizik analogy is going to have a great deal of success,” he said. “What LSU is telling everybody is, ‘Look, Les Miles and Coach O were both able to win national championships here, even though neither guy has been successful anywhere else. That’s just how good of a job LSU is. That’s just how good the talent is in Louisiana for high school football.”
“Coach O is on the hot seat right now. If Coach O loses this game, there’s lots of talk about who might replace him.” – @ClayTravis #LSU pic.twitter.com/CEOHqkFnPj
— OutKick (@Outkick) October 6, 2021
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
